(1)。 In the aspect of phonetics, English and Chinese have many phonemes in common, especially in consonants, such as /d/, /t/, /k/, /g/, etc。 If one knows Chinese phonetic transcription well, he will find it easier to pronounce English words according to Chinese pronunciation rules。

    (2)。 In the aspect of lexicon, Chinese has borrowed many words from English, such as coffee, cheese, modern, etc。 They share similarities both in pronunciation and meaning, thus making it easier for learners to memorize the words。

(3)。 In the aspect of syntax, most English and Chinese sentences share the same sentence structures。 For example, “我爱你” can be translated into “I love you”, and “他给我一本书” can be translated into “He gives me a book”。

From above, we can conclude that when learners can realize the similarities between L1 and L2 and make good use of them, they can avoid many unnecessary difficulties。

2。2。2 The Definition and Features of Negative Language Transfer

Since 1950s, negative transfer has been studied。 According to Lado (1957), negative transfer has become a main barrier in the process of language learning。 Since the mother tongue thinking mode is often used or grammar rules are applied, we will easily make errors in learning L2。 If the target language learning is hindered by a learner’s mother tongue, a negative transfer will occur。

In the light of language family, Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language system, while English is included in the Indo-European language system。 A number of differences exist in the two language systems including pronunciation, vocabulary, meaning and grammar。 Therefore, when learners apply their knowledge of Chinese into English, errors resulting from negative transfer are likely to occur。 Some examples of positive language transfer are listed as follows: